


Baby Fever

by TheBridgeIntoYourMind



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Dark fic, F/M, Force Bond
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 07:43:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13290264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBridgeIntoYourMind/pseuds/TheBridgeIntoYourMind
Summary: Rey isn't the only abandoned child in the galaxy.





	Baby Fever

Long, dirty alleyways branched out in an urban labyrinth. Garbage lined the narrow streets, dimly illuminated by flickering, outdated street lamps hovering high above her head. The Force vibrated with energy, her senses prickling at every muffled sound and fleeting shadow. Far above her, ships bustled about the cosmopolitan playground of Coruscant, creating mighty drafts and watery darkness for the lower levels.

 

Rey had the misfortune of occupying those lower levels.

 

Shadows skirted the corner of her eyes-a decrepit droid, long since forgotten to the bowels of the city. A spice addict, curled in upon themselves, lost in their own minds. A discreet exchange between a gaunt-faced woman and a filthy almost-human creature. A weary, skeletal figure picking through the trash, hoping to find either food even halfway edible or parts that could be exchanged for it.

 

It wasn't too different from Jakku, really.

 

And here she was, scouring through the garbage of a place most people wanted to forget, trying to find something useful. It seemed she'd spend her whole life scavenging.

 

The back of her neck prickled for the entirety of her descent into the deepest circles of the city, each level seemed to unveil a more broken world. The New Republics shame, its hypocrisy hid like a festering wound underneath a bandage.

 

It was exactly like Jakku.

 

Rey felt his presence before she saw it.

 

Her fingers twitched to her staff as her feet stood frozen in the path.

 

She should ignore him. She should just keep walking and get this mission over with and get the hell out of this alleyway before she had to hurt someone.

 

"Rey," Kylo said, "don't ignore me." Rey paused for a split second before doing exactly that and marching forwards, silently cursing herself as her footsteps echoed through the alley, no doubt piquing the interest of many unsavory peoples.

 

"What are you doing?" he inquired. Rey bit her lip, preventing herself from saying something dangerous. It was too familiar, too innocent. The bond between them pulled at her relentlessly, enticing her into that lull of companionship. For her, Ben offered a vulnerability which lingered in her dreams. For the Resistance, he was a vulnerability which haunted their nightmares. She steeled her heart. 

 

_Like I'd tell you._

 

"I can hear that you know." She gritted her teeth before taking a sharp turn into a dead end alley. She reached out with the Force, scanning for anyone or anything that could serve as a threat.

 

Empty.

 

She spun around and glared at the man in front of her.

 

"Since when can you hear my thoughts?" She demanded.

 

Half wraith and half man, Kylo stood before her. His eyes shone like a dying star, brilliant and fiery and powerful, but collapsing in on itself, creating a black hole to swallow any remaining light. And like a black hole, she found herself being inescapably drawn into their depths.

 

She should have kept her guard up. She shouldn't have looked at him, and she certainly shouldn't have spoken to him.

 

"Well?" she choked out.

 

Kylo was silent, his face expressionless and body rigid.

 

"Are you really going to be that childish? You nag me to talk and then you act like I'm not there when I finally do?"

 

His head snapped towards her suddenly, his eyes burning.

 

His voice was low as he slunk towards her, his face nearly touching hers. "There's someone nearby, hidden. You're not alone."

 

He'd said those words to her before, once in empathy and now in warning.

 

Rey swallowed.

 

"So? I'm with the Resistance. Someone could be hiding for any number of reasons."

 

"No, you're not. You're on Coruscant and are in danger."

 

Rey stared, open-mouthed and brow furrowed.

 

"How-"

 

"That's not important, what's important is that you're in danger."

 

"There's no one here," she hissed. Kylo's face twisted into frustration before grabbing her by the shoulders, pulling her into the shadow of his figure, his eyes boring into hers.

 

"Reach out to the Force," his voice hardly more than a growl, "do it, Rey."

 

Scowling, she reached out once more.

 

Nothing. Nothing but silence and decay. The only sources of life were the dim signatures of drunken urchins and starving children. Nothing except...a flicker. Weak and fragile, like a battery about to die. But it was there. And it was calling her.

 

She gasped.

 

"You sense it. Good. Now leave." Rey stiffened but did not otherwise respond to his demands.

 

Rey turned her head slowly, looking for whatever poor creature was calling out to her. The alley was dark, and filled with garbage. It wasn't hard to believe that something could be hidden underneath it.

 

She called out in the Force once more, a reply to the distress signal. It flickered a little brighter, a little stronger. She followed it, using the Force like a radar to the very end of the alley.

 

She was left standing in front of a massive pile of rot, of waste and decay. An abstract sculpture of scrap metal, which whined and groaned under the weight of itself. A shrine of the forgotten relics of lives, not deemed important enough to properly dispose of. Instead, they were buried in a mass grave, slowly rusting and fading, poisoned by the indifference of the oblivious citizens above.

 

But through the desolation of it all, she still felt it. Through the haze of spite and windy sighs of resignation, she felt a spark, too stubborn to let go just yet.

 

Whatever it was, it needed her.

 

"This is ridiculous, Rey."

 

"Shut up."

 

She used the Force, wincing at the sight and smell of soggy, moldy food, still fresh enough to harbor maggots, sliding off the pile. Underneath the putrid layer of rot and filth came the wall of thorn-like scrap metal, gleaming and wicked and obscuring their captive. Unsure of were the creature could be trapped, she plucked each individual thorn away, praying that she did not harm it.

 

Finally, she came to a smooth, coffin-like metal container, and at that, she felt it cry. No noise came from the capsule, it remained silent and still. Instead, she heard it through the Force, innocent and desperate.

 

Wiping away the remaining grime, she saw the face of an infant through a small glass window. A chubby, red face twisted in its mute cries revealed a gummy mouth. Tiny fists waved and squirmed out of the pink swaddling cloth, fighting for a second birth from its metal womb.

 

Abandoned.

 

Rey traced her hands over the capsule, searching for an opening. The baby's fading wails echoed through her mind as her fingers slid over the thin groove which marked the opening of the pod. Rey traced her fingernails underneath it. It was completely sealed, a vile chimera of cradle and tomb. 

 

She used the Force once more, but her attempt was clumsy. Instead of breaking the locks, she only managed to lift the pod a few inches into the air before dropping it harshly on the ground. With a cry, Rey ran lurched to check the baby. While still screaming and fussing, the frustratingly secure pod had done its job. 

 

She was too emotional, too unfocused. Even if she was perfectly calm, she was still training, and she doubted she had the finesse to pick the lock without hurting the child. But...

 

"Help me open this, Ben." She said, voice shaky.

 

Once more: "I said, help me open this, dammit!"

 

"It's not going to make it. It's a miracle its still alive."

 

"I can still save her! If I can get her out, I can get her back to the Resistance!"

 

"You're on a mission."

 

"Because you wouldn't benefit from me not completing it?" Rey scoffed. Kylo knelt beside her, quiet and calm.

 

"Who'd take care of it? The Resistance is fighting a war. They don't even care for the orphans they create."

 

"I would take care of her!" Tears ran down her face and she began to sob, her cries echoing in cacophony with the wails of the child. Rey bent over the cradle, pressing her hand to the glass. That was her baby. 

 

"Move."

 

"No, I'm not leaving her!"

 

"Do you want the baby or not?"

 

Rey paused, eyes still wet with tears, before scurrying wordlessly out of the way.

 

Kylo only sighed as he extended his hand towards the crib, and clenched his fist. With a crack, the locks broke and the lid popped open, unveiling a fat, screaming baby who was clearly in need of a diaper change.

 

She was perfect.

 

Rey reached for her, but she was delicate in her hands. Too fragile, too precarious.

 

"You're holding it wrong," Ben said, before adjusting Rey's arms around the child, cradling it in her arms.

 

"She is not an it," Rey snapped. Kylo didn't respond.

 

She felt instincts taking over as she rocked the child in her arms, the baby's cries slowly subsiding. Looking into the baby's big, dark eyes, she could feel every emotion she felt transported back to Jakku.

 

She felt the longing, for a mother, a father, anyone who could protect her. She felt the desperation for the necessities of life. She felt the helplessness in not being able to obtain it. She felt that connection to the Force, slumbering, but awakening like an emergency flair on a crashed ship, to light the darkness and call out for someone to help.

 

Rey chuckled softly.

 

The Supreme Leader of the First Order," she mused. "terrified of a baby."

 

She tore her eyes away from her baby only to look at Ben.

 

"Thank you." She whispered.

 

And then; "I miss you."

 

Ben said nothing, his attention completely transfixed on the baby.

 

"What are you going to call her?"

 

"I don't know," she let out a tired laugh.

 

"You'll have plenty of time to decide after you get her to a medic." Kylo rose to his feet, turning away. "There are plenty of medics in the upper levels of the city. I suggest you hurry."

 

Rey hurried to feet, pulling her baby closer to her chest.

 

"Ben, I-"

 

"Now's not the time. If you want to complete your mission and save the child you need to hurry." A pause. "I want you to know that you're right about the New Republic. About the Resistance. They talk of justice, but they will always be corrupt. For as long as they and their kind are in power, there will always be places like Jakku. You can save that child, but there will be millions more like her. Millions more like you."

 

And with that, he disappeared into the Force once more, the alley silent, her baby quiet and still at her breast.

 

Too quiet. Too still.

 

No...


End file.
